My Nokia Blog has the scoop on what chips Nokia’s next gen Windows Phones will run on, while Marketwatch has the press release from ST-Ericsson stating that they have been chosen as Nokia’s key partner for its Windows Phones. Specifically, its the company’s NovaThor platform that has been selected and it packs powerful chips such as the U9500, U8500 and U5500, all of which are dual-core.

“We are pleased to have been selected by Nokia as a key partner for Windows smartphones, in line with our goal to be present in all segments and major operating systems,” said Gilles Delfassy, president and CEO of ST-Ericsson. “Our NovaThor platforms continue to gain traction as they enable customers to bring great smartphones to the market.”

This is great news for the ecosystem, as competition between chip makers is sure to ensure faster innovation, which means speedier and more efficient performance for us. Earlier, Qualcomm was the only supplier for Windows Phone chips and thus enjoyed a monopoly of sorts. While this doesn’t mean that Nokia will abandon using Qualcomm altogether, I’d sure like to see a Nokia flagship running on that DB9500 chip.